


Soul mate's Words

by icanwriteanything



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 13:10:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3069347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icanwriteanything/pseuds/icanwriteanything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>They say when you turn 18, you will receive a tattoo on your wrist of the very first thing your soul mate will say to you. As soon as the clock strikes midnight and your birthday is over, that tattoo will appear and help you find the one. - Dr Richard Barnett. </em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Or the one where Niall, a hopeless romantic, slowly watches each of his friends' and family members find their soul mates until it's finally his turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soul mate's Words

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I haven't posted it ages. Whew....  
> The only reason is that I'm working on two new long fics and that takes a lot of time.  
> I hope you all had a lovely holiday and I hope this is a perfect gift for you. (If it's not I understand)
> 
> Based on this [post ](http://narrycanmarry.tumblr.com/post/99801574690/a-goddessofmischief-parnela-lansbury)

Greg runs to the kitchen, all excited like a child which startles Niall. A) Because of his brother's weirdness at the very early morning and B) because he nearly spills Niall's orange juice he's holding.

‘’What's up?’’ Niall asks as he sips on his untouched and undamaged beverage.

‘'It's here.” He grins and clings onto his mother like a koala bear which Niall scoffs at. His dad sets his newspaper down.

"What's here?” Their mother who's trying to get her son to stop hugging asks as she pushes her son away.

"Soul mate's Words.” Greg pulls his sleeve of his sweater up to reveal the tattooed words on his wrist.  Niall leans in to read the words:  "Is this seat taken?”

"Weird." He scrunches his nose, receives a smack on the head from his mum and he yelps in pain. "Ow."

"Be nice."  She points at him. "I think it's cute." She tells Greg.

“You think someone asking about a seat is cute?”  His mum and his brother both glare at him and his hands go up in surrender, vowing he will not talk again. Greg pulls his sleeves down, the tattoo now disappearing and runs to his room.

"Where you going?"  His mum follows the boy and watches as he excitedly rushes upstairs, his footprints audibly stomping as he goes.

"To tell Bressie."

 -

Greg meets his soul mate in university.  It was in the first day of university when he meets her. He was taking English Literature in Manchester Metropolitan and Denise was in the same class, in the same row, sitting next to him. 

He takes a seat in his class and waits for the emptiness to fill up since he is the first one to arrive. He doesn't need to wait that long because the bell rings as he sits and people start rushing in.

They all choose a seat randomly-some are groups of people have one person pointing and choosing the seats- and some people head to the back. 

Greg stays in his spot watching the riot of people shuffling here and there, settling their bags on the table and slamming their notebooks down.  He doesn't have anyone next to him making those noises and he's glad because he doesn't need distractions.

 He closes his eyes and waits for a big voice belonging to his professor to wake him up but it isn't a big voice but rather a pat on his shoulder from a girl with a pretty blonde shade for her hair and a cute smile.

"Is this seat taken?” Greg's eyes widen and he gulps and shakes his head. She smiles again as she takes the seat next to him and Greg stutters, trying to get his words out.

"I'm Deni-"

"Can you roll your sleeves up?" Her eyes widens and her mouth hangs open. Greg wants to go jump off a cliff because he just embarrassed himself in front of a really cute girl by asking her to roll her sleeves on her sweater, instead he shakes his head and his arms trying to convince her that he is not a freak.

"Say that again.” She says which Greg finds strange.

"Can you roll your sleeves up? He repeats, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. The girl smiles as she slowly rolls her sleeves and oh, the words _can you roll your sleeves_ up is tattooed in her wrist. 

"I'm Greg." He smiles and holds out his hand.

"Denise.”  She shakes his hand.

 

They decide to get to know each other before they date but they finally do date in the second year of university.  After they graduate and go to Bressie to celebrate, he takes her in an empty bedroom and finally proposes to her.

 -

Niall has heard this story plenty of times. It was first recited by his brother on Skype who was all excited and giddy- just like the time when he found his tattoo. It was recited again by Greg on Christmas when he brought Denise home for the first time. It was then recited to all the nosy relatives on the holidays that hadn't heard the story yet and wanted to know about how they met.  It was recited so many times that Niall doesn't even prepare a speech for his brother's wedding. 

He structures his speech with welcomes and thank yous, recites the story (short version since he doesn't want to bore people) and gives out few good lucks to the happy couple.  He watches as his brother turns around and gives Denise a peck on her lips. He smiles and wishes he was eighteen years old so he can find his soul mate.

 -

Niall hears a person groan from a distance of his kitchen as he fries some bacon in his pan. His lips curve into a smirk because he knows who the person is and why they're making the noise. 

 "Morning Louis." He chirps, annoying his best friend who was suffering from a massive hangover.

"Go to hell." Louis slurs, clutching his head and dropping on one of Niall's stool.

"Have some bacon, it'll cure it." He shoves a plateful of bacon towards Louis and dusts his hands off on the tea towel hung on top of the sink.

"Niall, did I get a tattoo yesterday?”  Niall shakes his head because he has the memory of every single thing that happened at Louis’s birthday party yesterday and Louis getting a tattoo does not match the database.

"What's this then?"  Louis stands up and rolls his sleeve up to reveal the tattoo he is talking about.

"Holy shit."  Niall curses, his right hand going up to cover his mouth in shock.

"What?”

"Soul mate's words."   Louis's eyes widen and there is a silent pause between them before they both scream in unison.

"What does it say?" Louis rolls his sleeves up higher and Niall reads the words out loud. 

"Thank you."   Niall’s excitement falls and he lets go of Louis’s arm.

"That's it? I can say thank you to anybody.’’ Louis furiously pulls his sleeves down.

"That is not fair, they should at least give you a detailed clue."  Niall munches on the leftover bacon Louis left.

"Gimme more bacon.” Niall hands him the unfinished bacon he was chewing on and watches Louis furiously finish it.

"Got any more?" He gulps the drink Niall hands him.

“You ate all that I made."  Louis finishes the drink and slams the glass down on the counter "Dammit."

"Louis, calm down, you have plenty of time to find her." 

"Yeah but I wish mine was unique so it's easier to find her." 

"Don't worry, your awesome friends- including me of course- are gonna help you find her.” He pats Louis’s back and Louis grins, feeling better.

 -

Louis meets his soul mate on the train two years later.  There were a few misses when he was in school-including his teacher Miss Diamond who said thank you after he gave his essay to her in her hand. He learns a little later on that Miss Diamond is married, in her late 30s and he's being ridiculous.

He's travelling home to Doncaster on a Friday-after a long day in uni for Christmas-when he meets her. 

"Finally."  Louis sees his train coming in after an hour delay. He pulls the handle of his suitcase and waits for the big transportation to stop.

When it does stop, he steps in immediately but there is a girl next to him rushing on the train as well. 

"Ladies first.” He gestures his hand towards the door and bows like a perfect gentleman he is and the girl giggles.

"Thank you." says the girl and gets on the train.

"No problem.” He smiles and gets on the train as well.

"She was cute."  He mutters to himself, sits down and checks his watch. He sees the tattoo in his wrist and realizes the girl he just spoke to said thank you to him.

"Shit." He silently curses and gets up from his seat to go look for her. He tumbles a bit since the train is moving but manages to reach the back of the train where she is sat.

"Hi." He greets her.

"Oh hey, you're the ladies first guy." She looks up and answers.

"Can I see your wrist?" 

"Sureeeee?" She drawls, stretching the e's. She takes her jacket she was wearing off and shows him her wrist. 

"Ladies first.” He reads out.  _Oh_

"You're my soul mate."  She slowly puts her jacket back on.

"Yeah.” Louis nods and chuckles. 

"I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner, I'm so tired from uni work and I have to be at my friend's in an hour and I'm panicky but hi, I'm Eleanor, it's nice to finally meet you." She rambles.

"I didn't realize it either, I thought you were another false alarm since mine said thank you and it could be anybody you know but yeah I just wanted to check and I'm Louis and it's so great to meet you...at last."  They both smile at each other and Eleanor pats the seat next to her.

"Where you heading off to?" He sits down next to her seat.

"Sheffield.”

"Not far off, I'm going to Doncaster.” 

"Maybe we should meet up on the holidays." 

"Yeah, I'd like that.”

They both exchange numbers and as soon as Louis goes home, he calls Niall.

 -

Niall also knows this story too well. He heard it from Louis the first time when he rang him whilst he was packing for Mullingar (He was jealous Louis had someone to kiss in New Year’s.)

He heard the story when Louis retold his story to Liam and Zayn when he came back-adding the saucy detail of their kiss on New Year's which Niall knew was gonna happen.

He heard the story when Louis was talking on Skype to Stan Lucas (his childhood best friend) and Niall was there.

He knows the story so well that he recited the entire thing to Greg and Denise when they asked if any of his friends had found their soul mates. His brother and his sister in law awed after he finished and Niall wished this year would go quick. 

 -

‘’This soul mate thing is stupid.” says Zayn one day when they (excluding Louis cause he's in uni) are having lunch in school. 

"Are you only saying that because your birthday is in three days and you're nervous about meeting her?" says Niall, biting into his sandwich. 

"No, finish your sandwich.” He shoves Niall off who continues to savor his lunch.

"Why you hating then?" asks Liam as he pushes a napkin in Niall's direction and points to his own lips to show him where the mayo stain is.

"You don't even get to experience the journey of dating, you're born waiting for your soul mate, remaining single and a virgin until you turn eighteen."

"You can still date until you turn eighteen." Liam points out. Niall nods, aiming his crumpled piece of napkin in the bin.

"There's no point, even if you date in all those years, your fate would still get decided. I wanna pick my soul mate from my choice not a tattoo's." He slings his bag on his shoulder and leaves the table.

"Ugh, I hate it when he's right.” Niall misses the bin and the napkin lands on the soft green grass instead.

 -

Zayn rolls onto to his right side, falls and lands on a soft body and the person's eyes snap open.

"Zayn, get off me." The person rolls Zayn off him and he lands on a soft carpeted ground.

"Niall?" He rubs his eyes and whispers. 

"Yeah?"

"Why was I on top of you?" Niall tugs on his hair and yawns.

"You fell on top of me from my sofa, you idgit."

"Sofa?  Why am I in your sofa? "

"Liam, Louis and I carried you here after you drank the entire bar." Zayn nods and the memory slowly start flooding in.

"Someone had a good time turning 18." Niall stands up to get his friend a glass of water for his hangover.

"That's right, I turned 18." He quickly rolls his sleeves up and just as he predicted, there is a tattoo on his wrist. 

"Soul mate's words."  He whispers.

"Here, drink some water." Niall nudges him a glass and Zayn sips on his drink as soon as it's in his hand.

"What's going on?" Zayn shows Niall his right wrist.

"Soul mate's words.”  Niall leans in and reads the words. "She sounds like a singer."  Zayn reads the words and is stunned himself. _Do you like my song?_ His wrist says.

"I've always wanted a talented chick." Zayn grips Niall's shoulder and grins. 

"Who was the one who said soul mate’s words were shit?" says Niall as his lips curve a smirk in a teasing manner.

"Shut up, my soul mate’s talented than yours." Niall rolls his eyes at the silly remark but smiles along anyway because he's happy for his friend and it's closer to his chance of meeting his soul mate.

 -

Zayn meets his soul-mate in a bar-well a restaurant that has a bar.  Louis (who comes back for weekends) suggests going to an open mic night on Saturday night when they're all drinking beer in his sofa as a mini celebration on the leader of the pack coming home and yes, those were Louis' s exact words.

"We're going to the bar to drink alcohol after we've drunk alcohol here, yay." Zayn sarcastically cheers as he grabs his coat from Louis’s coat rack.

"We're not there to drink, you moron." Louis rolls his eyes. "We're there to sing or at least hear me sing to let all the university stress out.”   He stretches his arms out wide.

"I'm not singing." Niall mumbles from the back which Louis hears anyway.

"You're going to sing, if you don't then no pints for Niall.” Louis pinches Niall's cheek and Niall bats his hand away.

"When I buy rounds, you’re paying for yours." Louis dramatically gasps.

"Fine, you can sit in the booth like a lonely prick then."

"Works for me."  Niall shrugs.

 

They go to the restaurant, crammed in Louis's car as he obnoxiously sings the songs playing on the radio whilst driving and the rest of the boys have to hear it throughout the journey. 

"Wait until we get to the bar yeah?" A brave Niall who wasn't afraid to poke the beast yells.

"My car, my rules." He hears back.  The brave teenager turns to his friends and they all shrug and join in because you know what they say, if you can't beat them, join them.

 

When they get to the restaurant, Louis stretches his arms out high, closes his eyes and lets out a huge satisfying sigh.

"Dude." Liam elbows him.

"Sorry guys but it's good to be home.”  He sighs contentedly, looking at every detail of things around the room.

"A table for four?” A waiter with a curly head of hair asks them, his eyes on the clipboard.

"Harry?" Louis exclaims, recognizing the waiter.

"Oh my god Louis." Harry hugs him and the three remaining stand awkward at their spot.

"How've you been?” asks Harry, his excitement increasing as he speaks and pats Louis’s shoulder. 

"Good good." Louis grins. They're both grinning at each other like two Cheshire cats until Niall clears his throat. 

"Oh, Harry, this is Niall, Liam and Zayn." Louis introduces as he points at each one.

"Nice to meet you guys." Harry smiles and Niall notices the dimples on his cheeks.

"Haz, we're just here for the bar and the open mic." Harry nods and gestures his hand towards the bar which Louis already knows the way to.

"How do you guys know each other?" Liam asks as Harry walks to the bar with them.

"Don't you remember Payno, I used to work here.”

"Oh yeah." Liam nods, now remembering.

"I gotta get back to work." Harry waves goodbye and starts heading to the kitchen door.

"Come drink with us Haz.” Louis pleads.

"I can't.” He's walking again.

"Come on, Nick doesn't mind besides there are lots of waiters at your service in Clarence's." Louis points to a waiter who's currently chatting up a girl at the door- he thinks they're flirting by the look of the girl's finger twirling her beautiful blonde hair and the soft giggles escaping her mouth.

"Josh is such a procrastinator, I swear he took this job to flirt with every woman who wanna get drunk and fat on a Saturday night.”  Josh and Harry make eye contact and Harry fake smiles and waves at the boy.

"We have another waiter clearing the tables there.” Louis points to a waiter (who has nice hair) currently wiping the tables with a wet cloth.

"Oh Mikey, spends half of his shift in candy crush and flappy bird, it’s ridiculous."

"That's because we have such a chilled manager who won't mind you drinking with your buddy."  Louis pats Harry's shoulder.

"Okay, tell you what, after every song I introduce, I will come drink and watch the performance with you."

"Deal." They shake hands and Louis lets Harry go back to the kitchen.

‘’Niall, isn't he cute?’’ Louis turns to Niall as Harry disappears into the swinging doors leading him into the kitchen.

‘’I guess.’’  He shrugs.

‘’You guess Niall? Come on Niall, he’s good looking.’’  Niall rolls his eyes and turns to the TV mounted on top of the bar.  He rather be watching Jeremy Kyle (which in Niall’s opinion is shit) than listen to Louis try to set him up with someone.

‘’Don’t you have a girlfriend, wait, I mean soul mate?’’

‘’It’s for Niall, you idgit.’’  Louis smacks Zayn's tattooed arm for his ridicule which Zayn responds to causing a fight to happen between the two and Liam having to separate them. 

‘’Niall’s straight as a ruler. ‘’ says Liam as he separates his troubling friends, pushing them back down in their seats.

‘’Oh my god Liam, Niall's gay.’’ 

‘’I’m sitting right here guys.’’ Niall waves a hand in the air, his eyes still glued to the TV. 

‘’Niall, tell Liam that you’re gay.’’   Louis pokes his friend in the arm with a finger, constantly, until Niall slaps his friend’s hand away.

‘’I’m straight.’’

‘’I thought you were gay.’’ Louis yells out which gets everyone in the restaurant to look at them, even the Mikey guy who had his full attention to his phone.

‘’Nice. ‘’ mutters Zayn, giving everyone an apologetic look on behalf of his idiotic friend.

‘’Whatever, Niall's going to fall in love with Harry.’’  Louis giddily turns to his friends and gives Niall a wink as he leaves the TV to listen to the conversation.

‘’You know, just because you are the first one to get a soul mate doesn't make you an expert.’’  

‘’Liam, please tell me that after Niall and Harry get together.’’   They all put the subject and Louis’s crazy theories to rest and turn their attention to Harry who’s standing on stage, adjusting a microphone.

‘’Hello, hello?’’  His voice comes out low and raspy in the microphone. Some girls squeal and turn to their friends to clutch each other’s hands. Louis whispers to his friends saying Harry used to have loads of fan girls who ridiculously named themselves Harry girls who would text each other and meet up in Clarence’s every time there was an open mic night since Harry sometime sings in them.

‘’Harry sings?’’  Louis grins and nods to his blonde best friend and waves at Harry when they make eye contact.

‘’I am going to introduce you to our first performer whom you may have heard of.’’ Zayn watches as a pretty girl with blonde hair tied to a ponytail stands next to Harry on stage.

‘’Make some noise for Perrie Edwards.’’  Perrie takes the microphone off Harry’s hands and the restaurant all cheer as Harry exits the stage.

‘’Here I am.’’   Harry slaps Louis’s hand that he raises high as he joins the gang.

“Where's Sandy?”  Sandy is the bartender and Louis has always labelled him as unprofessional and rude.

“He's ill.”  Louis feels bad for calling him an ass in his head.

“I've told Dan to cover for him, he’ll be here in…’’  Harry checks his watch. “10 minutes.”

“I'm thirsty.”  Harry shoots Louis an apologetic look as he rubs his back to make him feel better.

“Louis, who was the one who said we weren't drinking?” Louis flips Liam off and turns his head to pout at Harry.

“I'm sorry but the bar usually opens around open mic time.”  Louis shrugs, deciding to wait for a cold drink because what choice does he have? He listens to Perrie sing a song he hardly recognizes which he finds entertaining and distracting enough and quickly glances at every one of his friend.

Liam’s listening, bopping his head along to the beat. Niall’s come off the troubling yet entertaining TV show and is drumming his fingers to the beat. Zayn looks like he’s having the time of his life which Louis can analyse from the wide glistening eyes and a fond smile and it doesn't take a genius to figure out Zayn likes this girl.

The song finishes and Harry stands up beside him, clapping and cheering and he follows, clapping in his seat. Zayn leaps straight off his seat as soon as Perrie finishes and he watches in amusement as the raven haired boy stumbles to get on stage.

“Hi, I'm Zayn.”  He introduces to the blonde girl and her eyes widen which Zayn finds a bit weird for a first impression.

“Do you like my song?”  She finally says, flashing a shit-eating grin as she rolls her sleeves up to reveal the words _Hi I’m Zayn_ to him. Zayn slings his arm around her waist, pulls her closer and their lips touch. 

He can hear his friends cheering in the back, few whistles and he breaks the kiss off.

“Soul mate words are shit.”  Niall impersonates Zayn. “Fucking liar.”

 -

Niall knows Zayn's story too well as well.  Thankfully, unlike last time, he doesn't have to recite it to his friends who was already on the event. He did have to repeat it once or twice to his brother and sister in law and to his parents who curiously joined into the Skype chat, appearing behind the happy couple he was telling the story to.

“That's nice dear, it’s nearly time for you to turn 18.”  His mum says once he finishes telling the story for the second time.

“I seriously can't wait.” His smile grows bigger and the idiotic collective Irish he calls his family laugh at his excitement. He feels offended.

“Like your big brother.” Denise pinches her husband’s cheek and he beams at her.

“And in the beginning, you were not very enthusiastic about this whole soul mate thing.” His father teases and reminds him.

“Ha- ha.”  He fake laughs at his family and they laugh again. He wants to rudely slam his laptop shut.

“But call us as soon as you meet him.” 

“Seriously? Why do people think I'm gay?” He throws his hands up in the air and shouts.  They make a fake excuse and say their favorite soap is on which is not even accurate considering they don’t even watch soap. Niall however, still waves them goodbye with blowing kisses and a promise to call soon and the Skype line goes dead.

“Am I gay?” He whispers to himself.

 -

“Liam, you are drinking tonight.”  Louis slurs as his head rests lazily on top of his shoulder. Liam gently pushes his friend off and he stumbles backwards.

“It's my birthday and you're the one who’s drunk.” answers Liam as he helps his drunk friend get back on his seat.  Niall laughs beside him.

“Well I'm happy for my baby.” Louis leans in to kiss him, puckering his lips and making kissy noises. Liam pushes him off again, not being gentle this time.

“Alright, when the clock strikes midnight, you will get your tattoo.”  Zayn rejects Louis’s hug and excitedly pats Liam’s shoulder. Perrie smiles at Liam from where she’s sitting- which is Zayn’s lap and Liam weakly smiles back.

“How come Perrie's allowed to come?”  Louis points at the blonde girl and Niall rolls his eyes.

“He's Zayn’s girlfriend, they're a pair now, can't separate them.”  He explains to his drunken friend who’s not even listening causing the explainer to roll his eyes again.

“Listen to Niall, he's wise.” Zayn pats the blonde lad’s head like he’s a lovable puppy and Niall beams at him, feeling better.

“Wiser than you lot who's older and supposed to be a lot smarter.”  He points to every one of them and Louis falls on Niall’s lap.

“How we all this evening?” Harry appears behind the bar and laughs at the sight of a drunk Louis who’s bouncing up and down in Niall’s lap. Niall tries to push him off but the lad is very strong and heavy and Niall has no will and power today.

“Louis, this is why you're not allowed to drink.”  He walks over to Niall and pulls Louis off from the comforting seat that are Niall’s thigh and Louis hugs Harry as he takes him to the kitchen.

“I'll take care of him.” He says to everyone before he disappears and Niall gets a fluttery feeling in his stomach. He wants to look at Harry’s green eyes again. (He caught a sight of them when Harry leaned in and took Louis away and Niall thinks they’re the prettiest shade of green.)

“I think we're ready.” Zayn whips out an arm that has his watch on it and he takes a look at it before the arm joins his other arm to hold Perrie close. “It’s 12.”

Niall excitedly squeals from his seat and slaps Liam’s arm which is rested on the bar. Liam rolls his eyes and turns his arm around and sure enough, there is a tattoo.

 _Before we start, can I just say, I don’t do names._  

“The lucky bastard got a long one.” Zayn slaps Liam’s arm away and Niall reads the words again.

“What does ‘I don’t do names’ even mean?’’  Liam shrugs and they spend the time, analyzing the words like they’re some kind of philosophers.

 -

Liam meets his soul mate in a wedding. Paul’s wedding to be exact.  Paul is a family friend of Louis’s whose job is very cool (manager to a record company) and since it’s Louis and everyone knows Louis doesn't take no for an answer, they all agree to come along to the wedding and support Louis- who would be very lonely in the wedding.

“Why didn't you ask Eleanor?” Niall munches on a popcorn and passes the bowl to Zayn.

“Because.” Louis turns around and they all hear a sound of a DVD going in the DVD player.  “She can’t make it.”

“You're going on a wedding with three boys instead of your girlfriend, how romantic.” Louis shoots him a glare as Niall presses play from the remote he stole from Louis a minute ago (He wasn't letting Louis pick the movie again.)

“I don't have a choice.” He grumbles. The movie was Grease for the tenth time, in case you were wondering.

“You're welcome Louis.” Liam mumbles from under the blankets.

“Alright but we’re going suit shopping because I can’t find mine.”  Zayn rests the popcorn bowl on top of Liam’s head which is peeking out from the blankets.

“Zayn, you lose everything.”  Liam mumbles from the blanket again.

“Yeah, never let her go.” Niall grips on his shoulders and advises. Her meaning Perrie.  Zayn flips him off and they all arrange a date to go to town for suits.

 -

“This suit is growing on me.”   Niall tugs on his bow tie which is annoying, strangling and suffocating the life out of him. He wore this suit in prom and to his brother's wedding and it feels tight around his body.

“Mate, you should have bought a new one with me.”  Zayn grins, motioning to his brand new suit and Niall growls at him.

“No money honey.” He takes the bow tie off because they’re past the wedding now and it’s just the reception. He sees people dancing with no shoes on, heels scattered everywhere and he thinks he can take this off.

“Liam, how we doing over there?”  Louis pats his shoulder which startles him. He gives Louis a forced smile and turns back to stare at the same thing he’s been gawking at for the past few hours.

“Ahh…”  Louis nods, now understanding. Liam had been awkwardly staring at a girl who was sat with the bridesmaids, chatting and laughing at everything they say.

“Go talk to her.” Zayn shoves Liam’s arm.

“Could be your soul mate.”  Niall sips his beer.

“What if she's not?” Liam turns to Niall who rolls his eyes at Liam’s ridicule.

“What if she is?” 

“Fine, I will.”  He slowly stands up, brushes his trousers and waves at his friends. Niall smiles and wiggles his fingers, wishing him good luck.

He starts walking to the table where she was sitting but freezes at the journey in between.

“What's up?” Zayn asks him in concern (He hadn't walked that far.)

“Will one of you come with me?” He turns to his friends and pleads, doing the famous Liam Payne puppy dog eyes.

“Oh my god, just go.”   Zayn pushes him towards her table.

“Alright fine!” He walks confidently to the table this time not before he hears Louis yell: Use protection! He awkwardly smiles and waves at a couple who was dancing to Ed Sheeran who had stopped their dancing because of what Louis had shouted.

“He's crazy.”  He points to Louis and awkwardly giggles before lowering his head down and fast- walking to the table.

“Soph, David Beckham’s here.”  One of the bridesmaids teases the girl by poking her arm.

Liam starts to speak but the girl- who is now known as Soph- stops him.

“Before we start, can I just say, I don’t do names.”  His eyes widen and he nods.

“I'm Princess Consuela and you are?”  She holds out her hand.

“David Beckham.” He grins and rolls his sleeves up to reveal the tattoo.

“I knew he was your soul mate.” Another one of the bridesmaid squeals and side hugs Soph.

“Nice to finally meet you David.”  Princess Consuela grins and Liam grins back. (He tells her his real name later and she reveals Soph stands for Sophia.)

 -

"The girl from the wedding is your soul mate? Zayn cranes his head to look at Liam whilst he's rubbing the sticky goo they call hair bleach all over Niall's head.

“Told you.” says Niall, who's disturbingly enjoying Zayn’s head massages, exhaling and inhaling, loud enough for the entire population of China to hear and tiny moans escaping his mouth every now and then.

“Get a room.” Louis yells from his armchair and throws a cushion which inaccurately ends up in front of Niall instead of actually hitting the blonde boy.

“Nice.” Zayn tilts to stare at the cushion, his hands still working on Niall’s fluffy hair.

“Why are we here, watching this twat burn his scalps for the millionth times?” Louis sits up from the seat- well kind of- he’s been sitting on one of the arms of the armchair, dangling his feet like a child and leaning back on the seat every time his back starts to ache.

“Niall asked me to help him with his hair.” Niall nods and Zayn asks him to sit still.

“Leemo came to ask for help on his date.” He gestures to Liam.

“I dunno why you're here.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Louis sits up, swears and Zayn cheekily grins back.

“By the way Zaynie, I need to borrow your laptop.” Niall looks around the room. Zayn points to a laptop on the kitchen counter and Liam grabs it.

“I need to log on Skype.”

“Give it here.” Louis beckons the laptop and Liam confusingly and slowly gives it to Louis.

“You just focus on looking pretty princess.” He winks at Niall. “I'll log you in.”

“You don't know my password.”

“Yes I do.” Louis proudly grins and Niall’s eyes widen.

“Since when?” He exclaims, turning his head to the side to look at his friend before Zayn turns his head to the front again

“It's not a hard code to crack.”   He can audibly see Louis succeeding at logging him in and calling his brother from Ireland and Niall has got to stop using his password as _irelandderby_

“Hey bro.”  Greg greets his brother, bouncing a child on his knees. (Niall has a nephew called Theo and his friends all adore the crap out of him and turn him to invisible man giving no attention to the blonde lad.)

“Are you dying your hair again?”  He laughs and points.

“Not important.”   Niall answers.

“What's important is…” Liam takes the laptop off Niall’s lap and carries it to the kitchen. “I need help with a date.”

“Liam's found his bae.”  Louis shouts from his destination causing Greg to laugh at the word.

“Go on…”

 

So Liam ends up telling the story which Niall is forever grateful for. Even though, he loves obsessing over his friends’ romances or any romances really, he just wants the fat baby with a bow and arrow to shoot him next.

So he sits in the corner and listens to everything Liam explains to his brother and lets the agonizing pain in his scalp bleach his hair.

 -

It is finally September. 

Niall has never been this happy in his life. Not even when his friends surprised him with tickets to see 5 seconds of summer (They have good music.) Not even when his nephew was born and it was the cutest thing he's seen in his life and not even when the ugly piece of metal was removed from his teeth.

This was the year, this was the year he was going to meet the one. All 17 years of bad relationships and playing god has led him to this moment and he is really excited. He’s so excited that he texts his friends to come over so they can make some birthday plans.

_Sorry, Soph and I have a date: Leeyum_

_Going to Manchester to see Eleanor: Tommo_

_Need to finish art coursework: Malik_

“Twats.” He mutters and shoves his phone back on the designated pocket. He wants to go to a bar to drink and cry over his loneliness so that’s exactly what he does.

He slowly walks to the nearest bar, humming along to Uptown Funk- a new obsession of his- and passes Harry’s restaurant.  When he stops to make decisions in his head about whether he should go in or not, he sees Harry chatting to a girl, his eyes crinkling as he laughs and the beautiful dimple appearing on his cheeks and yeah that’s good enough excuse to go in.

When he opens the door, Harry’s moved onto another table in the far corner making it hard for the curly lad to notice him. He wants to go over and say hello but he also doesn't want to look like an idiot, interrupting Harry just to say one word to him.

So he sits in a stool in the bar, orders his drinks and plays a new addicting game he downloaded in his phone.

“Your hair is more blonde.”  He looks up to see Harry grinning at him, carrying a tray in his hand.

“Thank you.”  He drawls, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“It's nice.”  Harry pushes the tray towards Michael and points to a table who happily accepts, giving Harry a nod and a thumbs up.

“I'm the assistant manager.” He explains to Niall who’s looking confused and Niall nods, finally understanding.

“So where are the others?”  Harry sits on the stool next to Niall not before he turns to the bartender and orders a beer.

“Busy.”  Niall sighs.

“Oh.” 

“I was really looking forward to planning my birthday.”  Harry’s eyebrow rises up in interest.

“My birthday's in 12 days and I wanted to talk about what we were going to do but I guess we can't do that today.”

“Don’t worry, you have 12 days left.”   Harry says cheerily, patting Niall on the back. “And besides you're the birthday boy, they should be planning not you.”  Niall laughs and sips his beer.

“True.”

“So, since you’re free and all… do you wanna hang out?” Niall has never heard anything so good in his life. His lips slowly curve a smile as he hears Harry say the words he wanted to hear out loud and he’s nodding and following Harry outside.

 -

“So when did you move to London?”  Harry asks, picking a fry from the cone of fries he bought from a food vendor and offering some to Niall.

“16.” He rejects the offer and Harry shrugs and picks another one.

“What about you?”  Harry looks at Niall. “You seem like you're from someplace else.”

“Holmes Chapel and I moved here when I was 7.” Niall raises his eyebrows in shock.

“That's a long fucking time.” Harry cackles.

“I know.”

“Why so early?”

“My parents got divorced and my dad and I moved to London.”  Niall makes an empathetic noise.

“I'm sorry.” He apologizes.  Harry shakes his head.

“My parents are divorced too.”  

“I'm sorry.” Harry apologizes this time.

 -

“Lemme ask you something.”   Harry turns his head to look at him. They are currently hanging out for the seventh time, lying on the grass, identifying clouds because it calms Harry's mind and Niall just can't learn to say no.

“Out of all the unfortunate times I've known Louis.” Harry giggles and Niall joins him.

“Why have I never heard of you?” 

“I'm a very well-reserved person.” Niall nods and feels the soft grass on his head.  “I like being by myself.”

“You're talking to me though.”  He points to himself.

“Yeah, because I like you.”   He feels something fluttering inside of him.

“You like me?”   His voice croaks.

“Yeah, you seem like a good person to hang out.”   Harry smiles and Niall has no choice but to smile back, even though he’s a little disappointed on the inside.

 -

“So what does that look like to you?” Harry points to a cloud and Niall shields the blinding light with his hand as he looks up to what Harry’s pointing.

“Ummm…” The shape looks very erotic but Niall doesn't wanna say it out loud so he makes some philosophical shit up.

“It looks like two eggs and a mummy bird sitting on her eggs.”

“Don't you think it looks like a penis?”  Niall howls a laugh and Harry’s laughing beside him.

“I didn't wanna say anything first.” Niall says between his laughs and Harry’s laugh ascends to a louder volume.

“What a day to see some cloud penis.”   They share a look and laugh again. Niall watches as Harry's eyes crinkles when he laughs and the butterflies in his stomach go crazy.  Harry catches him staring and gives him a cute smile before sticking his tongue out and shutting one eye and yeah, Niall’s screwed.

 

He calls Louis as soon as he goes home.

 

“This better be good Horan.”  Louis says sternly as soon as he picks up. Niall can hear some heavy breathing and a voice of a female.

“Did you guys just…ew.” Even though they’re on the phone, Niall knows Louis’s rolling his eyes at him because he’s so predictable.

“What's up?”  Louis changes the subject and his voice changes into a soft caring one.

“I like Harry.”  There’s a silence and then Niall hears a cheer and some whooping.  He's very confused.

“You owe me £10 Eli.” Louis yells to the girl.

“What the fuck? You bet with your girlfriend about my love life?”  Louis laughs.

“Yes I did.”  Niall smacks his forehead and groans. “I knew you'd fall in love with him.”  

“I'm not in love with him.”

“Whatever you say.”  Louis singsongs and Niall wants to throw his phone on a wall but of course he’s not going do because that phone cost a lot of money and Louis’s the only one who can give him advice about Harry.

“So, can you stop gambling about what I do in my life and help me?”  Niall predicts another eye roll from Louis.

“Ni, what's the big deal?” 

“The big deal is I like him and I'm supposed to find out who my soul mate is in 5 days.”  Louis groans in annoyance.

“What if he's your soul mate?”   Niall scoffs.

“Don't be so skeptic Ni, what if he is?”  Niall sighs and punches the speaker button on his phone. He’s sick of balancing it on his ear and his arm is getting tired.

“But Tommo…” His voice turns soft as he plops down on his sofa.

“What if he's not my soul mate and I have a different soul mate?” He doesn't hear a reply from his friend so he continues.

“I have to be with my soul mate and he has to be with his.”  

“Well, you'll find out if he is your soul mate or not in 5 days.”  Niall bites his bottom lip and sighs, now feeling anxious.

 -

“Niall, Niall, Niall, Niall, Niall, Niall.”  Louis yells in his ear.  Niall groans and stretches to slap Louis’s cheek to shoo him away but Louis doesn't stop.

“What?” He finally grumbles, taking a pillow from the other side of the bed and cuddling it closer to him.

“It’s time.”  

“Time for what?”

“To see your tattoo.”    That wakes Niall up and he bolts awake, startling Louis and causing him to fall back on Niall’s soft bedroom carpet.

“Alright, let's have it.” Louis sits up; rubbing his head and Niall rolls his sleeve.

“What the fuck?” He whispers as he stares at his wrist which is blank, showing no signs of tattooed words.

“Well, I'll be damned.”  Louis pulls Niall’s wrist closer to him to get a second look.

“Why do I have no tattoo?”  Niall exclaims and pushes his wrist towards Louis’s face who slowly backs away.

“Liam and Zayn!”  Louis shouts towards the door whilst rubbing Niall’s shoulders to comfort him.  Zayn and Liam come to Niall’s room and see an upset Niall with his head bowed down.

“What's going on?”  Zayn asks as Liam sprints into action, hugging Niall close and letting him cry on the fabric of his shirt which he doesn't care about anyway.

“Niall has no tattoo.”  Zayn and Liam's eyes widen and Niall sobs louder. Liam shushes him and hugs him tighter.

“How is that possible? He’s 18.”  Zayn shouts and Liam shoots him a look, nodding his head towards Niall in his arms. Zayn shoots him an apologetic look.

“Somebody google it.”   Louis points to Niall's laptop which is on his desk. Zayn nods and grabs the laptop, separating it from its charger.

“Irelandderby.”  Louis whispers and Zayn nods, tapping the keys on the keyboard.

 

“The reason you don’t get your tattoo is…” Niall looks up from Liam’s chest.

“Your soul mate is born in a different year than you.”   He wipes his tears.

“That’s bullshit.”  says Louis, twirling in Niall’s desk chair.

“Or you're in a different country.” 

“More bullshit.” 

“So my soul mate is not here?”  Niall untangles himself from Liam’s embrace.

“Or years younger than you.”  Zayn interjects and Louis nods, agreeing. That doesn't help and Niall sobs and crashes back into Liam’s soft arms.

“This is why this scientist is named Richard.”  Louis mutters.

 “Dick.”  Zayn mutters beside him.

“Correct.”                                                                                                 

 -

“So how was your birthday?”  Harry slides Niall a glass of whiskey (he wanted something strong which Harry was surprised by.)

“Shit.” He sips on the drink.

“Sorry I didn't come to the party.”  They all had hosted a party in Niall’s house and Louis had invited him.

“My sister and I were discussing on lunch date I'm having with her and my mum.”   Niall nods, understanding Harry’s reasoning and Harry notices a slight decrease in Niall’s cheerfulness.

“You okay?”  He squeezes Niall’s hand which startles Niall and he swipes his hand away.

“Sorry.” Harry apologizes. Niall waves him off, not caring and Harry’s eyebrows furrow together in worry.

“You can tell me anything you know.”  Niall gazes into Harry’s eyes deciding whether to talk or sit in silence for the rest of the night.

“I don’t have a tattoo.”   He says softly.

“Really? Why?”  He buries his head into his hands.

“My soul mate is too young or in a different country.”   Harry rubs his no tattoo wrist for comfort and Niall weakly smiles.

“Don’t worry mate, soul mates are destined to find each other.” He grins at Niall and pokes him in the arm, asking to copy him.

“You will find her.” Niall grins and Harry feels less worried and happier.

 -

“No, I'm not going bowling with you lot if you're bringing your girlfriends.”   Niall shakes his head and crosses his arms.  Louis falls down on the floor and catches hold of Niall’s leg, looping his arm around and holding onto it like a child.

“Pleaseeeee.” He begs and looks up at Niall’s angelic face to see if he changes his mind (Louis really did call his face angelic.)

“I'm not a seventh wheel.” He tries to shake Louis off his leg but he holds onto Niall’s leg tighter. He walks to the kitchen to get a drink, dangling Louis along with him.

“What if I invite Harry?”  He stops and Louis smirks. He doesn't say anything to Louis even though internally he screams _YES! YES! INVITE HIM!_

“Are you coming?”  Louis asks with a sly smile and Niall rolls his eyes and nods. Louis lets go of his leg, stands up and sticks his hand out.

“What do you want now?”   Niall asks with an annoyed tone in his voice.

“Just gimme your phone.”   He suspiciously drops his precious phone in Louis’s hand, narrowing his eyes towards him as his friend taps something in his phone.

“Here you go.”  Louis hands the phone back and there is a new contact number saved on his phone which he catches on the screen.

“You saved Harry's number?”  Louis gives him a lopsided smirk, nodding in a sly manner.

“Why?” He wiggles his phone in his friend’s face and Louis laughs, pushing it away.

“You're gonna invite him not me.”   His eyes widen.

“No.” He throws the phone away like it’s a bomb and it softly lands on Niall’s sofa.

“It's not that difficult.” Louis picks the phone up and slams it in Niall’s hand.

“What do I say?”  He gives him a panicked look and Louis rolls his eyes.

“Just say me and the lads are going bowling tomorrow, wanna come?” 

“You make it sound so easy.”   He runs his fingers through his hair and exhales out a big breath.

“You want me to type it?” Niall nods repeatedly like he’s a bobble head doll and Louis rolls his eyes.

_Hey it’s Niall. Louis gave me your number.  Me and the lads are going bowling tomorrow, wanna come?_

“You make me sound so desperate.”  Louis chuckles and hands him his phone back.

 -

The phone beeps after five minutes and they both launch themselves towards it.  It turns into a wrestling match, the phone being passed around as Niall holds onto it then Louis then Niall and then to Louis.

“I wanna read it, I wrote it.”  Louis attempts to guess Niall’s pass-code, something he doesn’t know.

“No!” Niall tackles him from behind and Louis falls forward, sliding off the sofa and landing on Niall’s carpet.

“At least read it out loud.”  Louis crosses his legs and sits on the floor and Niall comfortably sits on the sofa, smug grin plastered on his face, happy that he won.

“Sure, what time?” He reads out.

“7’o clock.”  Niall nods and types in his phone.

“Where are we meeting?”  

“Super Bowl, of course.”   Louis shoves his arm as to say: _duh, where else would we go to bowl._ Niall feels stupid.

 -

5 minutes passes and Louis hasn't heard back from Niall’s reports. He needs to know these things because he needs to know every detail about his babies and what they’re doing. He feels over- protective towards the boys, being the oldest and all.

“Niall, how we doing?”   He leans over to check Niall’s phone. Niall giggles in response.

“Okay…” He drawls, slowly backing away to give him some space.  Niall roars a big laugh this time.

“Dude.”   The blonde haired lad finally looks at his friend.  Louis motions his eyes towards the phone, demanding to know what is happening between his ex- colleague and his best friend.

“Harry just told me this really funny joke.”  Louis circles his hand, motioning him to continue.

“Knock knock.” 

“Who’s there?”

“Daisy.”

“Daisy who?” 

“Daisy me rolling, they hating.” Niall starts to sing and dance in his living room and falls back on the sofa, howling a laugh and wiping his misty eyes.

“Hilarious.” Louis says sarcastically, his voice flat and expressionless.

 -

“Alright?”  He greets the three happy couples at the entrance where they were standing, waiting for him and Harry to arrive.

“Where's your boyfriend?” Louis grins and loops his arm around his lover, pulling her in and kissing her cheek. Niall makes a fake sick noise.

“First of all… ew.”   Louis’s grin stretches wider.

“Second, he is not my boyfriend.”  He rolls his eyes at the denial.

“No, don’t roll your eyes at me Tomlinson!” Niall sternly points a finger at his friend and Louis slaps the finger away.

“He looks good today.” 

“What?”  Louis points, Niall turns his head to look and they all watch Harry walk up the entrance, twirling his car keys in his finger and whistling a cheery tune. He’s wearing a red flannel unbuttoned shirt and underneath it, a plain black one.  He has a snap-back on and some of the curls he’s known to have is peeking out of the hat, making it very messy and good looking. He has rolled his sleeves up and the black top is a v neck revealing Harry’s obsession: tattoos.

“You didn't tell me he had non soul mate tattoos.”  Niall leans in and whispers to Louis.

“You didn't ask.”  Louis cheekily grins and Niall slaps his cheek making Louis’s head turn away slightly.

“Such a bully.”  He rubs his damaged cheek and Niall rolls his eyes.

“Hey guys, sorry for making you wait.”  Harry apologizes with a big smile and the butterflies living in Niall's stomach go crazy. Zayn elbows him from his left and winks. Niall wants to punch all of his friends (Not the girls because they are sweet and not acting like absolute twats.)

“Shall we go in?” Harry opens the door and ushers them in, letting them go first before him and receiving thanks and pats as all of them get in. Niall is the last one to go in and he shyly nods as his thanks.

“You okay?” Harry asks, his voice sounding worried and concerned as he shuts the door. Niall wants to snog his face off. Instead, he nods and they walk to the alley together.

“Oh, you guys are here.”  Liam looks up as Niall and Harry walk in.

“We are playing in couples’ team.”  Niall buries his head in his hands in embarrassment. “You guys don't mind playing together?”

“Nope.”  Harry shrugs nonchalantly.  Niall looks up in shock.

“Really?” Harry flashes him a grin.

“We're gonna kick their asses.”

“Yo, lovebirds, come sign in your names.”  Louis calls out to the pair and Niall can't stop blushing. 

“Let's go, boyfriend.”   Harry winks, tugs on his arm and Niall's cheeks are burning.

 -

“They're winning, El, why are they winning?” Louis plops down on the seat, rubbing his sweat from his forehead with a back of his hand.

“Niall's not even good at bowling.”  He gives her a grateful smile when Eleanor nudges a water bottle towards him.  He sips on his drink and watches Niall and Harry laugh at some inside joke they have between them.

“How did they get so close anyway?”  He turns to ask Zayn who plops down on the spot next to him, waving his hand near his face to cool him down.

“We ditched him by getting girlfriends earlier than him and he went and replaced us.”  Liam hands Louis a packet of crisp he got from the vending machine outside.

“They're adorable.”  Sophia sits on Liam's lap.

“And fucking pro at bowling.”   Louis munches on a chip and shoves it towards Zayn who munches one as well. They sit and watch Niall and Harry on a ‘date’ like it’s a rom-com they're forced to watch by their girlfriends.

 -

“How did you get so good at bowling?” Harry laughs.

“What?” Niall joins in as well, confused at what is so funny and why they are laughing.

“It's not something to be proud of.”  Harry shakes his head, trying to get rid of the awful childhood memories he has locked up in his head.  The method doesn’t work and Niall’s looking at him all cutely which doesn’t help.

“My dad has this arch-nemesis.” Niall laughs.

“Arch- nemesis, what is he, a villain?”  Harry shrugs, sticks his bottom lip out and nods.

“Anyway, sorry, go on.”  Niall leans into the shared table and Harry's breath hitches in his throat.

“My dad has this rival and they compete in bowling to prove who the best man is.”  He manages to continue and Niall tilts his head back and cackles.

“We had to be good at bowling in order to win him and his family.” 

“What were you called?”  Harry shakes his head.  “C'mon, how bad could it be?”

“Stupendous Styles.”   Harry leans in and whispers. Niall cocks his eyebrow.

“Stupendous Styles?”    Harry makes a disgusted face and Niall tries to stop the giggles escaping from his mouth.

“They keep demanding rematches because of their big egos and my bowling improved.”  Harry flexes his muscles and Niall shoves his arm and giggles.

 -

“If they get a strike, they win.” Louis whispers to his girlfriend and she rolls her eyes.

“Honey, stop obsessing about winning and enjoy yourself.” She pecks his cheek and picks up a ball.

“I guess Louis never told his girlfriend about how competitive he gets.” Niall winks and wiggles his fingers towards his friend who glares intensely at him.

“We played staring contest during our break one time and he clapped loudly in front of my eyes to win.”  Harry says, smirking as he turns to wink at Louis.

“Don’t you dare start.” He points to Harry who raises his hands up in surrender and walks over to where Niall is standing.

“Alright, Niall, remember what I taught you?”  Harry whispers to Niall who turns his head to look at him. They both are inches closer from kissing each other but that doesn’t happen because Zayn clears his throat really loudly, separating the almost kiss.

Niall positions himself just like how Harry taught him earlier and releases the ball. It rolls down the slippery lane and ends up knocking down all the pins.

“Oh my fucking god.” Niall whispers, staring down at his hands, shocked at what just happened. Harry pulls him in a hug, lifts him off his feet and twirls before he looks around the room to see everyone staring at them, all with a knowing smile plastered on their faces.

“Sorry.” Harry apologizes as he lowers Niall down.  Zayn shrugs and they all share a group hug as they go out of the bowling alley carrying Niall over their shoulders- proud that he did his first strike.

“Couldn't have done it without you.”  Niall nudges Harry when he gets lowered down and Harry flashes him a wide toothed grin- both unaware of the butterflies going off inside each other’s stomach.

 

And just like that, the holidays come and go. After Harry’s heard enough about how he’s finding out about his soulmate in two months and Niall’s had enough of his family coming to sit next to him and ask how he’s doing over the holidays, the month of February finally comes in.

 -

“What do you mean you're not going to be here on your birthday?” Louis shouts over the phone. Zayn's mouth hangs open and he's poking Louis’s side and asking to speak to Harry. Louis doesn't give the phone to Zayn and instead, smacks Zayn’s hand away every time the raven haired lad pokes him.

“At least put it on speaker.”  Louis rolls his eyes and presses the speaker button.

“My mum has set me up on a date with this girl who's always had a crush on me.”  

“Taylor’s back?” Zayn mouths _who’s Taylor_ and Louis mouths _tell you later_ back at him.

“Yup.”  Harry laughs which make him sound nervous not amused.

“But what about our plans to get drunk at my house?”  

“Sorry.”  Louis huffs and Zayn takes the phone off his pouty friend.

“Niall's going to be crushed.”  Zayn reminds him. Harry groans out loud and he clicks his tongue in annoyance.

“I’ll make it up to him.” 

 -

Niall's pretty broken up about the fact that he didn't get to spend his day with Harry on his special day. He's also extra sad about Harry going on a date with a girl on his birthday instead of being with him and talking about the most random things in life.  He admits he sounds a little selfish, claiming Harry as his own but that’s what you do when you have a crush. You get jealous.

His thoughts and his self-scolding gets interrupted when there is a pounding on his front door. He's a little scared, his heart beats quickens and he grabs a baseball bat for his choice of weapon just in case.

“Niall!” Niall's greeted by a very tipsy Harry who’s now pounding his fist on the door frame.

“Oh, you got the door open.”  Harry slurs and Niall slowly drops the baseball bat.

“Are you drunk Harry?” Harry wheezes out a laugh which turns to a very sickly cough, making Niall worry about the curly lad’s health and the current state he’s in. He ushers Harry into his house and shuts the door, leaving the chilly air outside to attack at trees instead of a lanky looking fellow who looks like a tree.

“Niall, why are you so nice to me?”  The lanky fellow gives him a side hug and whispers in Niall's ear which ends up hitting his cheek because of Harry’s current problem with sense of directions or sense of anything really.

The blonde lad ignores the way his stomach acts when Harry’s hot breath attacks the left cheek and he pushes the curly lad down to a seat, leaving him all alone so he can make some coffee.

“I don't want to sit.” He whines and stands up, stumbling and not being able to stand still. Niall's there to hold onto him to stop him from falling.

“You're pretty.” He whispers to Niall, leans in and kisses his nose.

“Harry, stop.”  Niall pushes him down to the same seat again.

“No I'm serious.” Harry pushes Niall's hands away from him as he paces around the room, wobbling like a penguin.

“I got my tattoo.” He rolls his sleeves and pushes his left wrist towards Niall to see (Left since right is covered in non- soul mate tattoos.)

_Thank you_

“Taylor's my soul mate.”  Harry rolls his sleeves down and pouts.

“She thanked me for paying for our meal.”   Niall tries to hide the hurt expression on his face by forcing on a wide smile.

“That's great Harry.”  Harry shakes his head like a child.

“It’s not great Harry?”  Niall corrects himself and Harry nods. He watches Harry sit himself down on his carpeted floor, crossing his legs as he sits.

“Why is it not great Harry?”  Niall joins him, sitting next to him in the same way.

“Because I fancied someone else.”    He stretches and pokes Niall’s heart. “You.”

“W-What?”  The blonde lad stammers.

“I like you.”  Harry repeats, saying one word at a time to make Niall understand. Niall doesn’t know if he should be happy or be sad it’s all rubbish and Harry’s drunk.

“Harry, you're drunk.”   Harry shakes his head and loops his arm around Niall’s waist.

“I want you to be my soul mate.”   He pulls the blonde lad forward and their lips finally meet.

It’s everything that Niall had ever dreamed of, however he doesn’t feel happy and there are no happiness bubbling inside of him- even when Harry tugs on his bottom lip making him moan. In the back of his mind, Niall knows Harry's drunk and this doesn’t mean anything.

The curly lad slowly breaks the kiss away and Niall pauses and waits for what's gonna happen next but Harry just runs to the bathroom and pukes on the toilet bowl.

 

Harry's gone when Niall wakes up the next morning. There are some dirty dishes in his sink which he doesn't remember putting it in there but Harry’s post- it note hung on his refrigerator explains every questions he has in his head.

_Sorry about last night also please forget everything I ever said._

_I also made a bacon sandwich for the hangover. – Harry_

Niall sighs sadly and crumples the piece of paper, throwing it in the bin. He decides to take a shower and clear his head about everything that happened last night and everything about Harry and what their first words were (he still remembers.)He wants to forget their first hangouts which was the most random day he's ever lived in 2014 and their other stupid hangouts that came with it.  He wants to forget about the stupid hug they shared in the bowling alley and the first strike he scored in that bowling alley, courtesy of the guy himself. He also wants to forget about the stupid almost-kiss and the finally drunken one. He wants to forget it all.

But he can't do that because he's so gone for the guy and he just wants Harry to enter his house now, breaking his door open and pulling him in a hug, not caring about the broken door.  He’s so gone for him that he wants to go hunt Richard Barnett down and kick his ass because his favorite was paired with a wrong person.

He doesn’t need to because as he shrugs his sweatshirt that say _free hugs_ off his shivering body. There is a tattoo on the right side of his wrist.

_Your hair is more blonde._

And the tears are streaming down his face as he's examining his wrist making sure it’s real and not something he’s imagined again.

After he's convinced it is real, he’s putting his sweatshirt back on, a woolly beanie over his head and texting Louis about Harry's address whilst he finds a pair of matched socks and a big coat.

“Good luck.” He reads out the text Louis sent back and exhales out a big breath as he opens the door.

 

Harry lives fairly close to him and Niall doesn't need to walk further to find it.  When he opens the door and sees Harry, the butterflies flutter inside his stomach.

“Niall I-“Niall shushes him, placing a finger to Harry’s lips. Harry nods and motions him to continue.

“Is it true about what you said to me last night?” Harry doesn’t nod or shake his head or speak.

“Harry?”  Niall leans closer to Harry’s face, gazing at his eyes for answer.

“Yea...” He whispers and Niall smiles at him.

“Do you remember what the first word you said to me was?”  Harry nods.

“How could I forget? You had such pretty hair.”  Niall's smile stretches wider.

“Tell me what you said.” Niall takes Harry's hands and holds it to his own.

“Tell me.” He kisses the knuckles.

“Niall, what's going on?”  Niall's shrugging off his coat even though he's standing outside Harry’s doorsteps. 

"What are you doing?"  Harry stops Niall taking his coat off and asks.

“Harry, lemme do this.”  He nods and pulls the blonde lad inside and Niall’s finally in a warm and cozy environment instead of a cold one. He watches Niall roll his sleeves and nudge his right wrist towards him.

“Looks like your wish came true.”  Harry takes Niall's coat he has tucked on his armpit as soon as he sees the tattoo and flings it to the side. Niall doesn't care where he lands and instead accepts the kiss Harry attacks him with, exploring every one of the rosy lips he always desired to kiss.

“You do look more blonde.” Harry says, between their kisses and flings the beanie off Niall's head as well.

“I know.”  Niall’s body slams hard against Harry's door which finally closes as Niall kicks it shut with his foot. They both pull away after a minute, panting and trying to get their breaths back.  Harry smiles and runs his fingers through Niall’s pretty blonde hair.

“I finally got what I wanted.”  He whispers as he kisses Niall's forehead.

“Thanks for making me wait this long, asshole.” Niall shoves him in the arm and Harry shakes his head and laughs, taking his lips from Niall's forehead back to where it's supposed to belong.

_Epilogue_

“I'm home.”   He calls out to his boyfriend, kicking his shoes in the shoe closet, accepting the warm radiating feel of their shared flat and walking to their living room.

“Hi honey.”  There is a table set out for them with lit candles everywhere and rose petals and two plates on top of the table. The main lights to the room have all been turned off and the only things luminous are Harry’s candles.

“What is this?” He accepts the hug Harry gives him, his eyes still glued to the table.

“Happy anniversary.”   Niall's mouth hangs open and he squeaks out a tiny gasp.

“I cannot believe you remembered…”  Harry flashes a wide toothed grin.

“How could I forget our special day?”  Niall rolls his eyes.

“Hold out your hand.”   Harry instructs his boyfriend.

“Why?” Niall asks, narrowing his eyes in a suspicious manner.

“Babe, just do it.”  He obeys and sticks out his hand. Harry places a box on top of his hand and Niall groans at his anniversary present.

“You're such an idiot.” He chucks the hair dye to the side and pulls his boyfriend in for a kiss.

 

  _fin._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always hit me on  
> narrycanmarry.tumblr.com


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